Vindicated
by GraceyOrange
Summary: Sirius returns from the veil after the war. Hermione is certain he will 4ever have her heart. But what happens when the stories in the Profit change her mind? Will he prove he's not the man their making him out to be? Reviews


It was so incredibly stupid Hermione thought to herself, as she threw her copy of the daily prophet down on her bed. The article on the front page of this week was, again, all about the life and times of the _Mysterious Sirius Black_, as he was called these days. For you see, after his _unfathomable conquest over death_, (about two years after the veil), he returned to their world a vindicated hero, and everyone wanted to hear his story. They felt sorry for him being wrongly punished in Azkaban for 12 years, and being pushed into the veil. They admired his loyalty to his godson and fellow Order members, which he had 'died' fighting to protect. And they worshipped him for having the courage to escape both prison and death. And of course, after everything was cleared up, every single witch fell in love with him, and claimed that they had known the truth all along. Now, Sirius Black was the number one most eligible bachelor in the wizarding world and front-page news every week.

Hermione couldn't stand it anymore. She wished she could just open the prophet without having to constantly see his face. In the beginning she loved it. She was overjoyed when he had returned and loved that the paper had told his story to exonerate him to the rest of the world. She had even enjoyed the early stories about some of the mischief he had masterminded while at Hogwarts. But now, for the past couple of weeks the stories had become more and more frivolous. These days it was all about what bar he had been seen at and who he had been seen with. And always, the ridiculous interviews with old hags whom had dated him in school spilling _juicy details_ about how good a kisser he was.

Hermione kicked the paper onto the floor as she stretched out on her bed. She knew that she ought not let it get to her. She knew that she couldn't believe everything she read about him, but still, she couldn't ignore the anger that arose in her after seeing the stories and photos of him going out night after night. Watching him twirl a gorgeous blonde witch around on the dance floor, or smile at the camera as a herd of young girls gathered around the table where him and Remus sat for drinks.

It was all really bothering her, especially because she couldn't get away from it. He was everywhere. The other girls had plastered his pictures all over the walls of their dormitory and notebooks. And they constantly spoke of him. And most annoying of all, they would constantly ask her about him. It was widely known that Hermione knew him personally, and as she was a girl, she was expected to know and answer all the kinds of questions the girls would ask about him. What's he really like? What's he smell like? Is his voice really as irresistible as they say? Has he hugged you? Kissed you? Would he date a younger witch? It was all becoming so tiring for her to deal with day after day, that she really did begin to hate the man.

He was nothing like she thought he was. And honestly it broke her heart. The Sirius Black that she had known was mysterious and desirable, but he was also mature and thoughtful. He sat around 12 Grimmauld Place reading, playing chess, and yelling at his house elf for making him remember his terrible childhood. He could always smile for his friends when they couldn't find the strength and he quietly grieved every day for those whom they had lost. The Sirius she knew argued her when he felt strongly opposed and winked at her when she said something witty. And when that Sirius Black hugged her and kissed her on the cheek she felt the butterflies that he put in her stomach explode with happiness.

But that wasn't the real Sirius Black. No, apparently that was just the Sirius Black who had to stay in hiding and plan how to avenge his dead friends. And now that the war was over and his name was clear, he was free to go on about his real life where he was an uncompassionate silly git.

To make matters worse for Hermione, she would have to see him tomorrow since it was their graduation day from Hogwarts. Maybe, if she was lucky, she wouldn't be able to see him through the swarm of people that would surely gather around him, she thought to herself. But even still, as she rolled over onto her stomach she looked down at the paper laying on the floor, and felt her heart flutter weakly as his famously sexy grin beamed back up at her. It seemed no matter how angry he made her, she couldn't help but still love the man he had been to her all those years ago, and even for the week she had seen him after his return. She smiled to herself as she remembered how good it felt to have him back.

The Day After Sirius Returned…

The war had already ended and the younger members of the Order had returned to finish their last year at Hogwarts. Hermione was studying in the library when a very frantic Ginny Weasley appeared to her and insisted that they rush to Dumbledore's office. Leaving all of her books behind the two of them ran to meet Harry and Ron. Hermione remembered the look of euphoric joy that spread across Harry's face as Headmistress McGonagall told him he had his godfather back. Though secretly Hermione bet that her own happiness could have rivaled Harry's. She would have never admit it to anyone, but she had fallen in love with Sirius terribly during the summer she spent at 12 Grimmauld Place and was absolutely destroyed when he died at the hands of Bellatrix Lestrange.

Right before Sirius's return Hermione had come to terms with the realization that she would be forever unsuccessful and unhappy in love because nobody would ever compare to him. No one else was as caring, as courageous, as loyal, as stubborn and clever, and as mysterious and alluring as he was, and she would be under his spell for forever. Not even death could break the hold he had on her. But now that he was back, she felt heart heavy heart relax.

She remembered the way he held on to her longer than the others when they finally saw him that evening. The rest of the Order was already there. They were having a great celebration in the kitchen when the four students arrived. Sirius, who was sitting at the head of the table beside his fellow marauder Remus, jumped to his feet and ran to hug Harry. The two smiled and Harry even let a few tears of joy fall as the happiness of Sirius's return radiated from his body. Then he hugged Ron and Ginny, remarking at how much everyone had grown since he had seen them last. Then, for a moment, Sirius just looked at Hermione and she at him. She smiled and he winked at her.

"Hermione," he gushed as he pulled her into his embrace.

And she felt as if her body melted into his. It had been so long since she had felt those strong arms and chest wrap around her. So long since she smelled his scent and as it rushed through her it awoke all the emotions that had lain dormant in her after his death. She held onto his neck tightly, never wanting to let him go, and he squeezed her tighter.

"I trust your still doing well?" he whispered into her ear with that silky soft voice of his and she was tempted to pull his lips down into a kiss.

But before she could even remind herself how ridiculous that would be, he kissed her cheek and let go of her.

"Much better now," she answered him. And they rejoined the party.

The professors at Hogwarts allowed them to stay the entire week without any penalties. They of course could have stayed longer, but they would have to make up any missed work.

Hermione awoke early the next morning. Everyone else would undoubtedly sleep in, since they didn't fall asleep until the wee hours as it was, but nonetheless, Hermione was wide awake by 9:30am. She could never sleep when something exciting happened and she was already used to being the first one awake back when she had spent the summer there. She figured she would just go about her old routine. Tea and a good book from the Black families well stocked library.

Once out the door, she realized that the halls were much colder in the winter than they were in the summer and her shorts and tank top weren't enough clothes to go roaming about the house in. But she had already made her way half way down the stairs and knew the others wouldn't appreciate her walking about and making noise while they tried to sleep, so she decided she would make her tea first. Once the tea was made she figured she could drop it off in the library and then go back for a sweatshirt. But then something unexpected happened.

When Hermione opened the door to the library she realized that she wasn't actually the only one awake. Sirius was lounging on the couch, wrapped in a thick wool blanket, reading a book. He smiled when she entered the room with a startled look on her face.

"So that's who I heard rambling down the staircase," he said while his grin beamed in her direction.

"Uhm, yeah, sorry. I was trying to be quiet," she answered him, a little uneasy.

"And look you brought me tea," he jested.

Hermione smiled at his familiar banter and replied, "Listen, I didn't walk across those freezing cold stone slabs on the kitchen floor barefoot to not drink this tea."

"Then I'm not the only one who thinks its freezing in here. Come sit with me," he said as he sat up to make room for her on the couch. "This blanket is very warm."

Hermione didn't even have to think. Her body was already walking towards him as her brain registered Sirius really being alive, and them two being the only ones awake right now, and him wanting her to come share a warm blanket with him.

She set the tea down on the end table next to the couch and shuddered a little as she climbed into the cold part of the couch and blanket. A chill ran up her spine and made her teeth chatter, but Hermione wasn't entirely sure if it was due to the cold at all.

Sirius laughed, "Look at you, your freezing." And he pulled her into his arms rubbing her bare skin where she had goosebumps. He wrapped her up tight and Hermione realized that the blanket, which was wool on one side, was soft, burgundy velvet on the other.

"Yours?" she asked

"Yes," he answered. "I used it when I was younger during the winter breaks from school when my parents still insisted that I come home to visit." Then he shot her his devious little smile and said, "It was nice to use around them rather than their green one. Really helped stick it to them and their pure blood mania."

She chuckled at the thought of a little 11 year old Sirius Black, just coming into his defiance, running around this grand old house with a Gryffindor blanket.

"That of course was in my innocent days."

"Well I'm sure even then you were a real force to be reckoned with," she replied.

"I'd like to think so," he answered as he stared off at the family tree on the wall.

She watched as his expression became slightly angry and even saddened. Hermione had seen him do that before, and she couldn't stand it. It wasn't fair that so great a man had to have such a terrible upbringing. She wanted to comfort him.

"Well I guess you ended up getting rewarded for it in the end though didn't you?"

But Sirius didn't say anything.

"You know, for your defiance and standing up to their pure blood ways."

Sirius smiled at her weakly, as he tried to hide the pain he was feeling from her.

"I wish you wouldn't allow them to still get you angry," she said and he replied with a perplexed look.

"Hermione I don't get angry at them anymore--"

But she interrupted him, "Sirius, I can see that look in your eyes," she replied. "I can see how sad and angry you get whenever you look at that stupid family tree on the wall."

His look then changed to a warm and understanding smile.

"Your right," he said, "I do become very saddened and angry when I look at that wall. But it is not because of my parents, or me feeling sorry for my horrid home life." He then turned to look her straight in the eye. "Hermione, when I look at that family tree I get angry at myself, because when I was apart of that family all I could see was how horrible the whole lot of them were. All I could think about was how bad I hated my parents until the day I finally left. I never once thought about my poor younger brother. I never once thought that Regulus might feel the same way as me. I never stopped for a second to ask him, to get to know him. I just left him there, in the hands of pureblood parents and Slytherin peers. I abandoned him so badly that he jumped at the opportunity to become a death eater in his youth, just to be a part of something. Just to make his parents proud."

He then paused for a moment, and Hermione's heart broke for him. She had always known he was compassionate, but whenever these rare moments occurred, when he opened up to her, she felt she learned more about the bottomless depth of his heart.

"I had always felt this way, ever since I learned of his death back when it happened," he continued. "But last night, after everyone went to sleep, Harry told me of your travels. He told me about R.A.B. He said I should be proud. That Regulus ended up being good after all and he gave his life to help the fall of the dark lord. I pretended to be happy in front of Harry, as he was telling me this because he thought it would make me happy, but really it killed me. It proved to me that I had made a huge mistake all those years ago by leaving Regulus and that my mistake resulted in his death."

Hermione couldn't hear it anymore. She had to stop him from thinking this.

"Sirius," she interrupted him. "You have no way of knowing that you could have saved him then," she said as he looked away from her. "He was already in school, he was already a Slytherin, therefore, he was already influenced by them. Do you really think he would have changed his mind just because his older brother, a Gryffindor mind you, told him to?"

"I should have at least tried," was his painful answer.

"You wouldn't have been able to change him," she said sternly. "You know that you wouldn't have. He was already too far gone. The important thing is that he ended up changing. He changed when it mattered most, and he weakened the dark lord. Regulus died a hero, just like so many from our side did, so that we who survived the war can live better today. You should honor him. You should feel proud because you did have an effect on him."

He was looking back at her now; her words had reached his heart.

"Sirius, it is because of your strength that you showed him when you stood up to your parents and left, that gave him the strength to leave the dark lord. You shouldn't feel any guilt. You made him strong."

Sirius took her hand lovingly and stared at her a long while.

"I don't think even Remus could have thought of a more convincing argument to make me feel better Hermione," and he kissed her hand.

She smiled and the two of them spent the rest of the morning talking.

They met like this every morning that week, because Hermione couldn't sleep and Sirius didn't care for sleeping much since his return from the veil, except Hermione did bring two glasses of tea from then on.

When it was finally time for them to return to Hogwarts, Hermione deliberately took a long time packing so that she could say good-bye to Sirius after everyone else had already gone. She had just gotten to the door of her room when Sirius opened it.

"There you are," he said as the two of them met.

"Yeah, I just finished packing."

"Well you better hurry. The rest have already flooed back to school." And he took her trunk for her as they descended the two flights of stairs down to the fireplace in the kitchen. Once there, the two stared at each other as they often did these days. Hermione was first to speak.

"I really don't want to leave," she said to him. And he pulled her into his strong arms once again.

"I really wish you wouldn't," he answered her as they hugged.

"I'll write to you."

"I look forward to that," he said as he kissed her cheek and let her go.

Hermione took her trunk and stepped into the little green flames. The two of them looked at each other once more, and Hermione said goodbye again. Sirius winked at her and grinned and she left smiling at him.

After that week Hermione was certain that he was her only chance at happiness. He was everything the hero's in her books always were and more. And she was determined from then on that she would somehow make him hers, because as far as she was concerned she had already given her heart to him, whether he knew it or not.

Apparently he didn't.

They did write to each other. They wrote a lot in the beginning, Hermione would often end her letters by apologizing for writing so much and then Sirius would write even more in his replies. But then one week in March, Sirius took a long time to reply and Hermione shrugged it off. She figured he probably was just busy with Remus and the Order, but then the paper started printing their stories about his new social life and she could see that he was really just too busy with other witches to be bothered to write her. Many other witches. And when he did eventually respond, she wrote him a brief, inexpressive letter and then never responded to any of the three owls he sent her after that.

It had been three months since their last contact and Hermione was sure that even if he had ever felt the slightest bit of emotions for her, he certainly had to have forgotten them by now. And frequently she had to remind herself that she didn't care.

And when Hermione awoke the next morning, she didn't care. She didn't even think of him as she packed her things and dressed for graduation. This was her big day to shine; she was Valedictorian and would be delivering the speech that she had worked on for half the yea.

They ceremony was beautiful. Out on the grounds of Hogwarts beside the Black Lake. The sunshine and light breeze made it ever more pleasant. The only thing that could have made it better would have been to have Dumbledore there. There was such a large turnout. Honestly there must have been close to a thousand bodies out there. It seemed that the entire wizarding world came to watch Harry Potter graduate, their way of sowing their thanks to him for risking his life to save them. To accommodate the large crowd; they had to bewitch chairs to float up above the others so it looked like a giant floating arena.

Hermione's speech ended the ceremony and the whole crowd gave her a standing ovation.

"That really was a wonderful speech Hermione," Harry said as he hugged her.

"Yeah," agreed Ron, "And who would have thought you'd be speaking to the entire wizarding population?"

Then the crowd swarmed around them. Everyone wanted to congratulate and thank the Golden Trio.

Hermione barely managed to escape. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate their thanks, but she just really hated crowds, and besides, she had already planned to walk around the grounds of Hogwarts one last time and stop by Dumbledore's grave to thank him. She would see her parents and the Order later back at the Borough.

"Hermione!" someone called out behind her.

"Hermione! Congratulations!" Remus bellowed as he pulled her into a hug. "That really was a great speech. I really liked the way you incorporated the war just enough as to not forget that it was a graduation speech. And from one valedictorian to another, I can assure you that that was the best speech this school has ever heard."

"Remus!" she shrieked. "What are you doing here? The full moon is tonight!"

"Shhh!" Remus answered as he looked around to make sure nobody heard that. And then he laughed at her. "I couldn't have possibly missed the graduation of the Golden Trio no could I?"

"But Remus—"

But he cut her off; he knew he couldn't ever hide the truth from Hermione. "Yes I am in a lot of pain, and I will be for the next week or so, but I decided it was well worth it rather than to miss this. The ministry has been working on some new wolfsbane potions that will hopefully be able to stop the transformations entirely; and someday be able to do it without pain. I am their lab rat for now."

"Wow that's incredible!" Hermione breathed as she hugged him again. "I am so happy for you. Now that I am graduated we can work towards equal rights for all magical beings."

"I'd like that," Remus replied.

"Moony! Put the poor girl down," called out another voice from behind them. "And I thought your new potion was beginning to work."

They turned and saw Sirius standing there with a beaming grin. And Hermione felt as if her heart stopped. He looked so incredibly handsome, even if he were a bit underdressed for the occasion.

He then ran over to Hermione, picked her up into his arms and spun her around. "I've missed you so much Hermione," he said as they were still spinning.

"I missed you too," she found herself saying back as she tightened her grip around his neck, just as she always did.

"I wish you didn't stop writing, but I know you must have been so busy with your last few months of school and parties and whatever else it is you do."

Hermione couldn't help but smile, she felt herself forgiving him already, as he set her back down.

"Oh, nice speech by the way. I was able to stay awake through the whole thing."

Remus rolled his eyes and Hermione laughed and thanked him. She really had missed them both terribly and she almost completely forgot that she was exceedingly angry with Sirius at the moment. That is until he reminded her.

Just when the three of them were beginning to catch up a group of girls walked up to Sirius led by Lavender Brown.

"Hello Mr. Black," she said as the group giggled.

"Hello girls, congratulations," Sirius replied to them in a mannerly way. And then he looked to Remus for help.

"Mr. Black we were wondering if you would talk with us for a little while," Lavender continued.

"Oh well, uhm," Sirius began. "You see girls I was kind of in the middle of –" he struggled to say as he looked from Hermione to Remus and back to Hermione.

"No its fine," Hermione interrupted him, not bothering to hide the anger from her voice.

And when Sirius just looked at her with a bemused expression, she replied, "I have things to do anyway," and abruptly left.

She did still want to visit Dumbledore.


End file.
